Fri, 8 Oct 2004, 04:17 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 20th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

---

Left Lane: Chris Brown Runs 10.847/64.20, Now #17; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Jeff McCulloch Runs 6.640/157.32, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.095/236.34, Was #12

3:35 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 75 degrees, relative humidity 53 percent, barometer 29.69 inches, adjusted altitude 1,567 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

McCulloch drifted left toward the center line. He tried to drive back into the groove but got too close and had to back off the throttle to keep from crossing over. Brown shook the tires and was off the throttle before he reached the 330-foot marker.

---

Left Lane: Eric Lourie Runs 5.820/245.72, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.862/243.50, Was #6
Right Lane: Billy Gibson Runs 5.850/247.34, Now #7; Best prior run: 10.115/81.66, Was #16

Nice laps for both Lourie and Gibson. Lourie moved up one spot in the order, Gibson moved up nine spots and off the bubble. Mickey Ferro is on the bubble now with a bump time of 6.399 seconds.

---

Left Lane: Bruce Mullins Runs 5.712/245.99, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.806/244.87, Was #4
Right Lane: Dan Pomponio Runs 10.040/84.91, Now #14; Best prior run: 6.255/233.48, Was #14

Pomponio launched and never got up to speed. Mullins' run didn't look all that pretty but it was his career best ET by nearly a tenth of a second.

---

Left Lane: Craig English No Time, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.923/240.34, Was #9
Right Lane: Darrel Cox Runs 6.100/220.37, Now #14; Best prior run: 6.300/203.28, Was #15

Cox got out of the groove early and was all over his lane. he left oil on the track, so he must have been slipping in his car's oil. English stayed in the groove halfway down the track, then drifted right and took out the 1,000-foot cone. This run was disqualified as a result.

---

Left Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 7.563/120.28, Now #16; Best prior run: 6.399/173.65, Was #16
Right Lane: Bobby Martin Runs 5.911/242.36, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.904/229.70, Was #8

We're back racing after a 15-minute delay to clean up oil that Cox left on the track. Ferro got to mid track and started to slow. He'll stay on the bump spot with an ET of 6.399 seconds. Martin had a good run but did not improve his place in the order.

---

Left Lane: Frank Manzo Runs 5.588/256.21, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.665/254.90, Was #1
Right Lane: David Ray Runs 5.809/245.40, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.932/240.81, Was #11

Manzo's current car was in the left lane, one of his older cars was in the right lane and now runs the colors of jay Blake's "Follow A Dream" team. Both drivers took their cars right down the middle of their lanes and both improved on their first session times from back in September. This pass was Ray's career best ET.

---

Left Lane: Frank Schuster Runs 5.991/239.19, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.045/237.09, Was #12
Right Lane: Paul Lee Runs 6.061/197.39, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.725/251.39, Was #4

Both drivers chattered the tires just a bit but both drove through it to finish their runs.

---

Left Lane: Paul Gill Runs 5.671/253.04, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.835/247.61, Was #7
Right Lane: Bob Newberry Runs 11.600/70.02, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.678/251.81, Was #2

Newberry launched, shook the tires hard and shut it down by the time he was a third of the way down the track. Gill had a little bit of tire shake but drove through it to take over the number two spot in the order.

---

Right Lane: Todd Veney Runs 6.090/187.31, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.928/245.27, Was #11

Veney got out of the groove, got back in and then lifted off the throttle at 1,000 feet.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink